Today In History: Tree Sit-In Begins

If we want to use forests as a weapon in the fight against climate change, then we must allow them to grow old, which is exactly what large conservation groups are asking us to do.
― Peter Wohlleben, The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World

On December 2nd, 2006,  two protesters at the University of California Berkeley began occupying trees in an oak grove outside Memorial Stadium to prevent the removal of forty-four specimen trees.  Joined by environmentalists in an historic twenty-one month standoff, they objected to plans that would replace this significant grove with a large new student-athlete training center.  Over a dozen people lived in the treetops; others brought them food, water, and supplies; and demonstrations, including stands with literature and musical performances, took place on the grounds below. Professional organizations, such as the Sierra Club, California Native Plant Society, and Berkeley City Council, feared the placement of an athletic facility near the Hayward Fault, one of the world's most dangerous earthquake faults, while others voiced concern about the grove's centrality in being host to hundreds of bird, animal, and insect species.

Despite the halt in construction proceedings in 2007,  police began arresting protestors by July 2008. Their appeal failed, and trees were being chopped down by early September 2008. The last four protestors were forced down from their perch in a redwood tree on September 9th, only to be arrested.

The longest tree sit-in ever resulted in extended litigation, petitions, and arrests  of both students and non-students, arborists and activists  -- among them Zacchary Runningwolf, eventual mayoral candidate.  A form of civil disobedience, tree sit-ins have occurred in other parts of California, additional states in America, and throughout the world, including Canada, Australia, and Europe.

The following articles are drawn from Proquest Historical Newspapers, which informs and inspires classroom teaching and learning.

• Tree-Sitters Protest Berkeley Stadium Expansion Plans. (2006, Dec 05). Visalia Times-Delta (2001-) 
• McKinley J. (2007, Jan 23). A Dose of Maturity for a California Protest. New York Times (1923-) 
• Former Mayor Protests Removal of Campus Oaks (2007, Jan 24). The San Francisco Examiner (1902-) 
• McKinley J. (2007, Sep 13). University Fences in a Berkeley Protest, and a New One Arises. New York Times (1923-) 
• McKinley, J. (2008, Jun 19). Judge Gives a Victory to Tree Sitters in Berkeley Oaks. New York Times (1923-) 
• McKinley J. (2008, Jul 24). Protesters at Berkeley Lose Legal Ground But Keep Perch. New York Times (1923-) 
• Berkeley Construction OK'd. (2008, Aug 27). The San Francisco Examiner (1902-) 
• McKinley, J. (2008, Sep 09). Staying in a Tree, Delaying the Final Cuts. New York Times (1923-) 
• Protestors Remain Up a Tree. (2008, Sep 09). The Californian (1990-) Retrieved from 
• Tree-Sitters, Trees Come Down. (2008, Sep 10). The Californian (1990-) 

Tips:

• California Memorial Stadium Timeline, University of California Berkeley News Archive.
• Chace, William M. 100 Semesters : My Adventures as Student, Professor, and University President, and What I Learned along the Way. 1st ed., Princeton University Press, 2006. e-book.
• Cohen, Robert. The Essential Mario Savio: Speeches and Writings That Changed America. Edited by Robert Cohen, 1st ed., University of California Press, 2014. e-book.
• Freeman, Jo. At Berkeley in the Sixties : The Education of an Activist, 1961-1965. 1st ed., Indiana University Press, 2004. e-book.
• "United States: Coming Down from the Trees; Campus Activism.” The Economist (London), vol. 387, no. 8581, 2008, p. 73.
• Williamson, Edmund, and John Cowan. The American Student’s Freedom of Expression: A Research Appraisal. NED-New edition, University of Minnesota Press, 1966. e-book.
• What Trees Tell Us, Everett Cafe Book Display, 2021, Gottesman Libraries, Teachers College, Columbia University.

Images:

• Save the Oaks: Guitar and Banner, Wikimedia Commons.
• Poster Image: Berkeley Oak Grove Tree-Sitter Camp, 2008, Wikimedia Commons.